Last week’s Tour of Poland saw Basso finish eighth overall, despite not featuring highly in many of the race’s seven stages, and feels confident as he heads to Spain.

“My form has improved and this means that what I’ve done until today to prepare has been good,” said Basso. “In Burgos I hope to make a step forward. It’s a tough race, the ideal race to test my legs. As happened in Poland, I won’t care too much about the results. I know that to built a good result in a long stages race you can’t expect the best results immediately. The Vuelta a España is not started yet, so it’s more important the feelings.

“After the injury of the Giro my goals were to recover, improve my form and feel happy,” he added. “I achieved all of these and now I’m ready to face the Spanish challenges”.

Following the Burgos race, Basso will remain in Spain to reconnoitre the steep Alto de l’Angliru climb, which will feature on the Vuelta a España’s penultimate day, before returning to Italy for an altitude camp at the Passo San Pellegrino.